Alleged victim was driving teacher's SUV

Published 8:36 pm, Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Image 1of/1

Caption

Close

Image 1 of 1

Lucinda Rodriguez Caldwell

Lucinda Rodriguez Caldwell

Alleged victim was driving teacher's SUV

1 / 1

Back to Gallery

Hours after a teacher accused of sexually assaulting a former student left a hotel with him, she was seated next to the 12-year-old boy as he drove her SUV and led his father on a high-speed chase on U.S. 90 until Hondo police stopped them.

The domino effect of that 3:30 a.m. Saturday traffic stop was a visit to San Antonio police later that day by the father and son and an allegation from the boy that the teacher had performed a sex act on him at the hotel. It concluded with the woman's arrest on a charge of aggravated sexual assault of a child.

On Tuesday, Lucinda Rodriguez Caldwell, 38, was released from jail on $75,000 bail and ordered to wear a GPS monitoring device. She was under full house arrest and only allowed to leave for court-approved outings, which is common in these types of cases, officials said.

A man who answered the door at Caldwell's Southwest Side home declined to comment on the charge.

And while the exact sequence of what transpired beginning Friday night still isn't clear, the Hondo traffic stop shed some light on the events leading up to Caldwell's arrest.

Boy carted off in ambulance after S.A. shooting as relatives scream in anguishSan Antonio Express-News

Police reports and an arrest warrant affidavit say the boy's father woke up early Saturday — no specific time is noted — and couldn't find his son.

He looked around outside and recognized the teacher's black Ford Explorer as it pulled up to the house, according to the documents.

The affidavit states Caldwell had checked into a hotel about 1:15 a.m. that morning but doesn't identify it.

The father approached the SUV and it sped off. He jumped into his van and followed the vehicle for more than 30 miles until both were pulled over in Hondo for speeding and erratic driving.

A confused, emotional scene unfolded at the traffic stop, Hondo police Lt. Bob Dean said. The child appeared scared and the father upset, Dean said. He declined to describe Caldwell's demeanor.

While the officer initially stopped the vehicles for traffic violations, it “ended up being a disturbance,” according to police records. Dean said he couldn't comment on what the father, son and teacher told the officer because of the SAPD's ongoing sexual-assault investigation.

Dean said the teacher could have been cited for allowing the boy to drive, among other possible traffic violations that night, but the officer used his discretion and let everyone go — but not before stressing to the father that if he had any serious concerns about the teacher, he should report them to San Antonio police.

No outcry about a sexual assault was made to Hondo officials by the boy or his dad, Dean said.

“The officer's priority at that time was making sure the boy was reunited with the father,” he added.

Records show the officers finished responding to that traffic stop by 4:30 a.m.

That afternoon, the father took his son to San Antonio police headquarters, a department spokeswoman said. During questioning, the boy told officers the teacher had taken him to a hotel to have sex with him. The arrest warrant affidavit was signed by 4:25 p.m. and Caldwell subsequently was arrested.

On Monday, Caldwell resigned from her position as fifth-grade teacher at Cable Elementary School in the Northside Independent School District, where concerns already had been raised.

After three staff members complained in February this year that Caldwell was “overly friendly” with a male student, for whom she also held a special, after-school tutoring session a few weeks later, the principal moved the boy to another classroom.

“She made a call at that point to move the student out of the class ... obviously, there was some favoritism taking place,” district spokesman Pascual Gonzalez said.

The move also was intended to benefit the student academically by transferring him from a bilingual class to an all English class and that was conveyed to his father, who was initially reluctant to see his son moved from a class where he had blossomed, Gonzalez said.

“The principal never came out and said to the father, ‘I believe there is something inappropriate going on,'” he said. “Those are very serious allegations. She did not have documentation or supporting evidence. That is not a conversation that she had.”

The initial complaints about the teacher simply spurred school administrators to warn her to behave in a more professional manner.

“What is available to the principal when there's sufficient suspicion is you call Child Protective Services,” Gonzalez said, and the “observations didn't rise to that level of suspicion.”

But as of Tuesday afternoon, CPS had opened a case involving the boy, said agency spokeswoman Mary Walker.

Walker said CPS usually wouldn't get involved in cases such as this because the alleged assault took place off school property, but that when law enforcement agencies are notified of possible abuse or neglect they are required to notify CPS.